Vauxhall Ampera (2012 – 2014) Review

The Vauxhall Ampera was one of the first plug-in hybrid cars to reach the UK market - although it was billed as a pure electric car with a range extender - and could have been a big boost for Vauxhall. Unfortunately it was probably just slightly ahead of the curve, so it never really caught on and sales were halted within two years. Despite the comparatively old technology it has some positive attributes and could be an inexpensive way to go green(er).

Electric cars are now a more prominent idea in the minds of car buyers. That they are a consideration for everyone rather than just being on the radar of early adopters is good news for everyone.

Cars like the Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe and Tesla Model S have gone a long way to raising the prominence of electric cars in the public consciousness, with zero exhaust emissions and extremely low running costs, thanks to a combination of government incentives and no fuel bills.

They’re not without their issues though, with the biggest bugbear being range anxiety. Most people rarely travel much further than 30 miles a day, but for business trips, visits to family or holidays, electric vehicles (EVs) are impractical. This means most will be partners to second cars, with a traditional petrol or diesel model filling the gap.

Vauxhall took a different approach, one that turned out to be something of a temporary solution too, as only BMW offered similar technology for a while on its i3 model. For the most part it’s a traditional EV – you plug it in to charge the batteries and then enjoy quiet, electric drive for up to 50 miles. But after that the Ampera has a trick up its sleeve, because when the battery runs out a petrol engine takes over and generates power for the motor.

So like a normal EV you can commute to work, drop off the children at school and make it home again on electricity, then plug in and charge up again for the next day. Where the Ampera comes into its own is where other EVs fall flat. Because when the battery is depleted a 1.4-litre engine takes over the role of generator.

The engine provides charge to the battery, so the battery can still send power to the motors, but it doesn’t drive the wheels directly - at least not until you are at higher speeds, and then only as assistance to the electric drive.

That means you can drive as far as you need, as long as you can find petrol, then charge when you get the chance. It takes six hours to charge fully from a mains supply, but a fast charger cuts that time significantly and can be installed at home.

There’s no real change to the way in which the Ampera drives from one mode to the next. In EV mode it’s more or less silent, with a faint whir from the motor. If the engine needs to kick in it does so quietly, although its revs are related very little to the speed you’re travelling.

The drive itself is pretty good, too. Anyone who has driven a traditional automatic car will feel right at home – select D, lift off the brake and the Ampera even ‘creeps’ like a normal auto. It’s responsive with all 370Nm of torque available from zero revs. This means the Ampera can hit 62mph in 8.7 seconds, despite the heavy batteries.

It feels fairly heavy but it's composed at speed, even over fairly rough surfaces, and it remains quiet with just the intrusion of road noise breaking the silence. Over broken or rough surfaces this road noise can be quite intrusive though. Even so, with no engine noise it's quite a surreal experience.

It’s been set up with soft suspension so that ride quality takes priority over handling, and the result is a car that does an excellent job of insulating you from the state of the roads. It does become somewhat floaty over bigger undulations, but it’s rarely bothersome.

In terms of handling there is some body roll, but not excessively so, and the amount of lean just lets you know that you are cornering hard. The steering is accurate, and although it has quite a strong self-centring action, it keeps you well informed about what the front wheels are up to.

Grip levels are sufficient rather than exceptional, but if you truly plan to be an efficient driver then you’ll be carrying your speed through the bends - and the Ampera is happy to oblige.

There’s just a single engine option of course - an electric motor dishing out 149PS driving through a single-speed automatic gearbox with a 1.4-litre petrol engine to regenerate the 18kWh battery and provide some additional drive at higher speeds. 

At lower speeds and while the battery still has charge, it will drive purely on electric power with the engine switched off, and even though it is quite a heavy car it still feels quick and is up to decent speeds.

If the battery is sufficiently depleted while you are driving then the petrol engine will kick in to add charge to the batteries, and it will only contribute to actually powering the vehicle once you reach higher speeds where the drain on the battery is especially high. With the single speed automatic gearbox you can just put it into D and not give it any further thought, which makes for a relaxing drive whatever the conditions are.

The Vauxhall Ampera was tested by EuroNCAP in 2011 and given a five star rating. It scored 85 per cent for adult protection and 78 per cent for child protection, with pedestrian mitigation at 41 per cent 86 per cent for safety assist.

Because the Ampera is an older car and was tested in 2011, EuroNCAP subsequently declared that its five star rating expired in 2018. This reflects that the testing regime is under constant revision, so that a car receiving five stars in 2020 is performing to a higher standard than a five-star car tested a decade earlier.

This does not mean that the Ampera is not a safe car, just that it should not be compared to a current car with a five star rating.

Because the Ampera is classed as an electric car it is not suitable for towing and was not available with a tow bar.

The Ampera offers a reasonable amount of space inside, although less than cars of a similar exterior size. It’s hampered by the fact it has to accommodate both a conventional engine and a battery pack, unlike pure EVs or conventional petrol and diesel cars.

In the front there’s good headroom, while legroom is sufficient to cope with those who are six foot plus. In terms of shoulder room the Ampera is also good, but the wide transmission tunnel does take up some of the hip room that a conventional car would offer.

In the back it’s strictly seating for two people as the battery pack takes up space down the middle. Legroom is good but taller people will find the sloping roofline eats into the available headroom.

Under the hatchback you have 301 litres of space, and the option to fold the rear seats to increase that to 1000 litres - again, this is a useful amount of space but less than the competition.

The Ampera gives off a good first impression, with twin screens and the unusual centre console giving it a futuristic feel, while the flashes of colour in the doors and on the seat trim are smart. However, the physical quality doesn’t quite match up to how good they look, insteading matching up to middle-ranking cars in the class.

As standard, the Ampera’s infotainment system comes with a 7-inch touchscreen system, with DAB, CD player, Bluetooth, AUX and USB input all standard. The upgraded system includes navigation, a 30Gb hard drive that can store music, a DVD playback facility and BOSE audio with a subwoofer.

Both systems use the same screen, which by modern standards offers graphics that look a little simplified, especially in models with sat nav displaying a map. Operating the system itself is quite straightforward, and it responds quite readily to inputs, although the lack of a touchscreen or physical buttons is an irritation. It also lacks modern features such as screen mirroring for smartphones.

Because of its limited lifespan on the UK market, and the fact that this happened because it wasn’t a sales success, the number of examples on the market is relatively low. However, there are examples out there, it just may require a bit of time and patience to find and secure a car that suits your budget.

All Amperas are now over three years old so they are less likely to be found within the Vauxhall dealer network as used vehicles. A quick search of the classified ads turned up a handful of examples, ranging between £7000 and £13,000 in price.

As an example, we found two examples that were very similar; both with around 60,000 miles on the clock, the same specification and both from 2014, but one was priced at £10,500 and the other was £1,000 more. Be prepared to shop around and look at cars across the country to give you the widest choice.

Under the more generous NEDC fuel consumption rules from when it was new, the Ampera came with an official figure of 235.4mpg combined, but you can forget any idea of achieving that yourself in an older car. You can expect to get fuel consumption of 70-80mpg with a bit of effort though, and the more you drive at low speeds in electric mode the higher that figure will be.

The fuel tank is a modest 35 litres so won’t be expensive to fill, and the Ampera’s battery can be recharged in six hours from a home charger or under three from a high power outlet.

Because there are no engine options and just three trims to choose from, there are few surprises in the Ampera’s insurance groups.

Being an electric car with a sizeable initial price tag the groupings are higher than similarly sized non-electric cars. The Positiv and Earth models are in group 20, while the high-spec Electron is in group 21. However, as long as your premiums aren’t very high in the first place and you have a decent no-claims bonus you shouldn’t find the Ampera is too expensive to insure.

There’s not too much distinction between the trim levels in the Ampera, and with limited examples on the market it may be a case of taking what you can get.

As standard, the entry-level Electron model is fitted with driver and front passenger, front seat thorax & roof sides (dual stage) knee airbags, remote keyless entry, leather steering wheel with rake/reach incorporating cruise/radio control, climate control, park heating, cabin preconditioning, rain sensor, power windows, power locks, ambient leb-based front and rear reading lamps, heated leather seats, 7'-inch colour touch screen, DAB radio, MP3 AUX in and USB port, Bluetooth with speech recognition, rear parking sensors.

The higher-spec Positiv model adds satellite navigation, a 30Gb hard drive, DVD playback, BOSE audio with subwoofer, rear view camera.